Matthew Spencer on Writing Detective Rose Riley - Broke Road

Allen & Unwin
Jul 2
3 min read

Author Matthew Spencer talks about writing Broke Road protagonist Detective Rose Riley.

Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Matthew Spencer offers a compelling insight into the creation and evolution of one of Australian crime fiction’s most intriguing detectives, Rose Riley. In this behind-the-scenes reflection, Spencer traces Riley’s journey from a supporting character in his debut novel Black River to the powerful driving force at the heart of his latest thriller, Broke Road.

Rose Riley, a NSW Homicide detective sergeant, first appeared in chapter 2 of Black River, my debut novel. She evolved slowly, over the many drafts of the manuscript, which took three years to complete.

At first Riley was subordinate, in the character sense, to her boss, Homicide Chief Inspector Steve O’Neil, and to the journalist Adam Bowman, who is conscripted by the police to work alongside them on the investigation at the heart of Black River. But as I worked on the novel, Riley began to emerge from O’Neil’s shadow and stand alongside Bowman as the central figure in the drama. The book opens with Bowman, but it closes with Riley; she drives the action to its conclusion and has the last words.

Riley is a foil to Bowman. The journalist is a slightly dishevelled presence: not very good at his job, a hard drinker, weighed down by old family trauma with no strong personal relationships. Riley is more resilient, driven and courageous, with strong interpersonal bonds and a solid rapport with her team. In forming her, I interviewed police detectives about their personal lives, ambitions and histories, but I think she also comes from me and the women in my life: my wife, mother, sister, daughter, my female friends. As I wrote her, I was of course conscious that I was a man writing a woman, but I didn’t baulk at that or even pay it much heed. As a writer, you have to be interested in people, and that’s what Riley is above all else: a person.

In my second book, Broke Road, Riley is the dominant force. The first four chapters are from her point of view, and her boss O’Neil is on the sidelines, not involved in the case. The investigation in the book takes Riley to the Hunter Valley and a place very close to her childhood home. Riley grew up on a small farm in the Hunter and moved to south-west Sydney with her family when she was eleven. So we’re back where she was as a young child, seeing her formative influences, which helps to broaden her as a character. Bowman is also there, and in this book the two characters have now known each other for two years following the events of Black River. In the interim, Bowman has written a book about Riley and her work, complicating and deepening their relationship. I found this device—a book within the book—a natural way to develop Riley. Her response to Bowman’s book becomes entangled with her past as she revisits places from her childhood, and this forms her emotional core as she goes about the investigation.

Discover more about Matthew Spencer and his books at matthewspencer.com.au, and don’t miss your chance to dive into Broke Road, available now wherever good books are sold.